Arnon Grunberg

Idealism

Place

Early this evening, I ordered an Uber to drive me from Zurich Airport to Überlingen at Lake Constance. (The train connections were rather complicated, too complicated for this evening at least.)
The Uber driver, a soft-spoken man named Ismail, told me that he was from the northern part of Iraq. He used to be a shepherd like his father. He was not a Kurd but a Turkmen. ‘They live there too,’ he said.
As a kid he made it to Switzerland. His other family members passed away, whether they were killed or not was not clear to me.
Then in Switzerland he became a pizzaiolo, but he was fired because the restaurant closed because of Covid. And then he became an Uber driver, he was too old to find a job as pizzaiolo.
We arrived in Überlingen. ‘I have never been here,’ he said, ‘but you can see it’s a rich place.’ Later I discovered that halfway the ride was cancelled by mistake. In other words, my driver must have missed at least 100 Swiss francs.
I contacted Uber in order to correct this mistake, but I haven’t heard from them yet.
Their automated system is based on the assumption, probably correct, that most customers want to pay less or want to get a refund. I don’t consider myself an idealist, although literature probably is impossible without a hint of idealism, but I’m in favor of the idea that companies acknowledge that some customers have a little sense of justice, of fairness, even when it costs them money.

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